A Tale of Two Border Cities: Community Context,Ethnicity, and Homicide*

Objective. Using Poisson‐based negative binomial regression, we estimate the effect of neighborhood factors on homicides in two cities (San Antonio, Texas and San Diego, California) that have large Mexican‐origin populations. Methods. Three independent data sources (official homicide police reports, medical examiner records, and the U.S. Census) are used to construct the dependent homicide, and independent neighborhood, variables. Census tracts represent the unit of analysis, which serve as a proxy for neighborhoods. Given the spatial nature of the data, spatial estimation procedures were also modeled. Results. Spatial proximity to violence, neighborhood disadvantage, and affluence (in San Antonio) consistently buffered homicide across neighborhoods, even in heavily populated Latino neighborhoods. Conclusions. Spatial embeddedness and neighborhood characteristics are important for improving our understanding about ethnic neighborhood variations in levels of violence. Comparative approaches across places, namely, Latino‐dominated cities, can yield considerable insight into how the local context intersects race/ethnicity and violent crime.     

“We Come Not Here to Talk”—Revisiting the Work of Anna Julia Cooper: An Analysis of Standpoint Theory and Her Placement in the Academic Canon

This paper examines the writings and influence of Anna Julia Cooper. The honest, historical narrative of scholarship is in question when theorists of color are repeatedly forgotten or removed from the academic record. Anna Julia Cooper is just one example of someone who has been overlooked. I detail how Cooper's analysis of group identity, located in shared experience, provided the groundwork for intersectional frameworks and feminist standpoint theory. I further contend that Cooper's lived-experience narrative not only informed her own work but the work of others of her time, including the more esteemed W.E.B. Du Bois. She addressed how race-gendered politics and the legacies of slavery and colonialism shape scholarship. Cooper's critique of academia determined that the relationship between colonialism and academia is intrinsically tied. My analysis examines how the work of theorists of color is often omitted, erased, or contextualized within the writings of white theorists due, in part, to a lack of generational intellectual wealth. A concept that recognizes the historical discrepancy in scholarship between white scholars and scholars of color and how that exclusion has shaped and defined established knowledge. This paper analyzes Cooper's placement within the lineage of the academic canon.     

A Modern Conceptualization of Sexual Prejudice for Social Work Educators

The existence of bias against gay men and lesbians presents an issue for the profession of social work since social workers are committed to working with vulnerable populations without prejudice. Public opinion polls suggest a growing complexity in heterosexuals' attitudes toward lesbians and gay men and this article explores a modern multidimensional perspective to assist social work educators to improve the educational curriculum in this area. This more complex view of social workers' attitudes toward lesbians and gay men identifies overt, as well as subtle, forms of sexual prejudice.     

An ICT-Driven Hybrid Automation System for Elderly Care Support: A Rehabilitation Facility Study Case

Abstract

The demographic statistics in developed countries suggest growth in the elderly segment of the population. At the same time, other studies forecast a shortage of nurses, increasing the pressure on hospitals to provide treatment for longer periods of time. These trends suggest a need for new ways of taking care of the elderly population that support safe, comfortable, and independent living. Meanwhile, prominent advances in information and communications technology (ICT) have enabled new systems that address various needs of the elderly. This article presents a case study of a rehabilitation facility located in Tampere, Finland, that uses an automation system in which ambient assisted living (AAL) and building automation (BA) system functionalities are combined. It details a field study summarizing the needs of the users, describes functional scenarios supported by the system, and reports the results of the first usability tests suggesting acceptance of a new technology by residents and caregivers. The unique combination of ambient assisted living and building automation offers a safer and more comfortable environment for the elderly as well as helps caregivers on-site in managing their workloads.     

Managerial and leadership effectiveness as perceived by managers and non-managerial employees in Mexico

Using the critical incident (CI) technique, concrete examples of effective and ineffective managerial behaviour (CIs) were collected from managers and non-managerial employees within private and public sector organizations situated in the north and southeast regions of Mexico. The CIs were content analysed using open, axial and selective coding to identify a smaller number of thematic categories. A total of 38 ‘manager’ and 35 ‘non-managerial employee’ behavioural categories were identified respectively, of which 82.19% (n = 60) were found to be either convergent or polar opposite in meaning. The findings suggest that what behaviourally differentiates effective managers from ineffective managers is perceived, described and defined by Mexican managers and non-managerial employees in much the same way. The study provides new insights on the issue of perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness in Mexico and is a rare example of indigenous managerial behaviour research in a non-Anglo country.     

Consistent procedures for multiclass classification of discrete diffusion paths

The recent advent of modern technology has generated a large number of datasets which can be frequently modeled as functional data. This paper focuses on the problem of multiclass classification for stochastic diffusion paths. In this context we establish a closed formula for the optimal Bayes rule. We provide new statistical procedures which are built either on the plug-in principle or on the empirical risk minimization principle. We show the consistency of these procedures under mild conditions. We apply our methodologies to the parametric case and illustrate their accuracy with a simulation study through examples.     

Seeing Through the Logical Framework

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - In this study, we examine the key management and scientific traditions that inform the logical framework, a project...     

Reviewing performance: an analysis of the structure and functions of performance management reviews

This article proposes an analytical framework for conceptualising performance management reviews (PMRs). Drawing on multiple literatures, the article applies Pettigrew et al.'s (Pettigrew, A., Whipp R., and Rosenfield R., 1989. Competitiveness and the management of strategic change processes. In: A. Francis, and P.K.M. Tharakan, eds. The competitiveness of European industry: country policies and company strategies. London: Routledge) framework to develop our understanding of the context, process and content of PMR. The process elements of PMRs are the levers for managerial intervention as they determine the immediate outcome of PMR. They accomplish this task by acting on the content elements, transforming the subject of PMR into specific outcomes. The scope of the intervention, however, is constrained by factors in the organisation's context. This framework sheds light on various functions of PMRs, most notably strategy implementation.     

Explaining the Mexican‐American Health Paradox Using Selectivity Effects

While typically socioeconomically disadvantaged, Mexican migrants in the United States tend to have better health outcomes than non‐Hispanic whites. This phenomenon is known as the “Hispanic health paradox.” Using data from Mexico and the United States, we examine several health outcomes for non‐Hispanic whites and Mexicans in the United States and in Mexico and employ Blinder–Oaxaca decompositions to help explain the paradox. We find evidence that selectivity is playing a significant role in the relatively healthy status of Mexican migrants in the United States. More importantly, there is evidence that health selectivity is a complex process and its effects typically do not work the same way for different health conditions and across genders. We also find evidence that some of migrants' health advantages are lost as they spend more time in the United States.